May 1, 2009
The word for today is “challenge.” This last month has been glorious but it has also been challenging. I know that there have been so many things to do. I am thankful for the great blessing of good news about the student fundraiser. I am thankful for the glory of the Spring Concert. While these activities have been super, I know that many of you, like me, might feel exhausted. Many families have faced illness, computer trouble, and financial trials on top of all these activities. What challenges! I am thankful also that summer is coming. We need it. There is a lot to do between here and summer, however. Sometimes it is easy to get frustrated when we face challenges. As believers, however, we need to always remember that God’s hand is upon us and that He is using these challenges—they are one of His chief instruments—to make us more like Jesus Christ. This does not make any challenge less difficult. It certainly didn’t make the cross that Christ faced any easier. Christ’s life does, however, help us to know that our lives have meaning because the same God and Father who sent the challenge is with us as we face the challenge and this same God sent His Son to conquer all of our greatest challenges.
